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Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

Dudes, I understand this, I've already stated it multiple times that this didn't need to be a published article. I completely agree. What I took issue to were people's responses saying the lady's actual response to the guy and the situation was handled poorly BY HER.

I don't think there were too many of those, and what I saw focused mostly on her assuming things after the fact she never confirmed, and not listening to any apologies whatsoever. The main criticism seems to be that she wrote the article in the way she did.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

I think the Pacers games are more family friendly than Colts games. Although maybe that is not a good comparison. Maybe a better comparison is a Pacers playoff game vs a Colts game. A Pacers playoff game is much more intense than a regular season pacers game. The fans are much more into the game and IMo it is a little less family friendly. If I had a 4 or 5 year old I probably would be more interested in bringing him to a regular season game foir that reason and also he wouldn't appreciate a playoff game.

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

Wow... the responses in this thread are pretty disappointing. I agree that this shouldn't be in the news, but if this happened to my boy, I wouldn't have been as nice to this guy as she was, drunk or not. That's my son.

Accidents happen....I feel like someone with a kid should understand that better than most.

Don't get me wrong I understand the desire to protect your child, but if someone apologizes and even it sounds like he hung around for a while, what else could he do?

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

I don't think there were too many of those, and what I saw focused mostly on her assuming things after the fact she never confirmed, and not listening to any apologies whatsoever. The main criticism seems to be that she wrote the article in the way she did.

First, that is another assumption, taht she wasn't listening to apologies. Second... again, you do have a wife or at least a female partner, right? You know how they get? My wife would react the exact same way. Their focus (rightly) is completely on the welfare of their child. You and me, as men, ya, we're likely to have a slightly wider scope in situations like that. I myself would take all of 5 seconds to verify that other than knocked out tooth, my boy was alright and my wife was taking care of him, and my attention would immediately go to the dude who fell on him, because he's got some 'splainin to do.

There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

1) I hope you guys responding to me actually have a young son. Your perspective will change a lot.
2) I don't know if the guy was drunk. But let's be real. You guys know what was probly goin' on.
3) You knock my son's tooth out on his first trip to see his favorite team, one of two things are going to happen: 1) if you aren't visibly drunk and it truly appears to be accidental, I'll let you by with a light scolding. 2) if you've been tipping back a few and you fell on my son because you're feeling good, you are going to get a large earful from me.

If you don't like that, then this is what I suggest for you --- I suggest you don't get drunk and fall on my son and knock his tooth out. I don't know what else to tell ya. Lol.

I'm going to defend my son.

That said, I've taken my boy to Pacer games, and I've never had an incident or felt threatened.

I don't have a young son, no.

But I do have a 13, 11, and 10 year old sisters. They have attended Pacer games with me. I would protect them with my life if I felt they were actually threatened, but this honestly just seems like an accident.

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

I'm not as irritated at the lady as much as I am at The $tar. I expect the lady to be emotional after her son got hurt, but the newspaper should be a bit more rational when deciding whether or not to run it on their front page.

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Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

I'm really not one to bag on the Star, but that's just bad writing in any paper. Where's the call to action? Without a call to action, the writer's ultimate solution in addressing a problem he/she points out, there's really no point for the article to exist other than to complain about something that apparently can/will happen again without meaningful change.

(Not saying there is meaningful change to be had, necessarily, but that it's on the author to call for it if he/she is going to make the effort.)

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

Dudes, I understand this, I've already stated it multiple times that this didn't need to be a published article. I completely agree. What I took issue to were people's responses saying the lady's actual response to the guy and the situation was handled poorly BY HER.

Parts of the situation WERE poorly handled by her. Obviously her utmost concern was the welfare of her child, assessing his injuries, etc. However, she didn't see what happened (maybe he was drunk, maybe he tripped, maybe another drunk guy pushed him). She didn't attack or berate the guy or threaten to press charges, all of which would be reasonable response by a momma bear protecting her cub. No she ignored the guy, his apology, and didn't get any clarity of the situation whatsoever. And what most people here have the biggest issue with, she doesn't go vent her frustrations to her family and friends, but to the tens of thousands of readers of the Indy Star. All while admitting she doesn't know what exactly happened.

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

What's weird to me is that you're almost defending this (likely drunk) dude instead of this 7-year old kid at his first Pacer game who unfortunately will probly never forget this.

Not meant to be a slam on you KM as I found this rather funny because of one thing. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the times BillS is that guy who catches all those tee-shirts that Boomer shoots our of the cannon. And from my seat I get the greatest pleasure seeing BillS (everytime) walk over and hand it to some young fan nearby. I've told him personally before that's a really neat thing he does. In his humility he just says he enjoys helping to make possible life time Pacer fans.

You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

You're over-thinking this with all the scenarios. This isn't Law And Order. If you don't think I'm not "aware" of what's goin on around me, you are extremely funny.

Seriously, I never meant for you to think I was saying you were not going to be aware of what is going on. It just did not come across when the use of the word "defended" only was applied to doing something after the fact.

It doesn't matter if I'm aware or not. If a guy falls down from who knows how many rows and lands on my son, knocks his tooth out, stands up, says, "Gee", and then completely disappears with no other interaction, he's not getting the benefit of the doubt.

If I had fallen and landed on another person's child, I would've immediately become profusely apologetic, and then I would've stayed around for however long it required to make sure the kid was alright, the situation was under control and then I'd probly go buy the kid a souvenir. This guy said, "Gee", and poofed.

And this is the thing I don't get. Even assuming the article was written in a completely unbiased fashion, it was clear the guy was there, with his buddy, for some time, trying to apologize. They chose not to pay attention to it (for whatever reason). What more is he supposed to do? As someone who has been in a similar situation, a guy standing around trying to distract me in order to apologize is actually pretty annoying - as soon as I was sure things were pretty OK, I'd tell him to move on and we'd deal with it later if needed. It sounds like they didn't even do that - and, because of that, we DON'T know if the guy offered to do anything - finding the boy later to do so sounds like it wasn't going to happen because, per the article, they left as soon as the boy was cleaned up. Maybe he was waiting for them to get back to their seat, but they never came back. Was the guy supposed to stalk them?

How his tooth got knocked out is irrelevant. Let's just say there was an impact of some variety, one hard enough to knock a tooth out. Going into the why's and how's and where's and was he facing backwards ---- doesn't matter. The kid was in his seat, next to his mom, and had his tooth knocked out.

What's weird to me is that you're almost defending this (likely drunk) dude instead of this 7-year old kid at his first Pacer game who unfortunately will probly never forget this. You're making all kinds of assumptions about this guy and the situation instead of just calling it for what it is --- he fell on a kid and knocked his tooth out. Then he poofed.

Notwithstanding the "poofed" again, why is it irrelevant? The guy must have been drunk to fall down, because no one ever falls down for any other reason, and that explains everything? Only if every incident is always solely one person's fault and if a child or a parent never has ended up in a situation that contributes to an accident.

I have a tendency to defend the person whose side of the story we don't know, and I don't change that just because the side we have is of a mother whose child had a bad experience. That's why I look for clues in the story being told - not to do some "law and order" analysis but to make sure we know what went wrong. It can't be fixed unless the facts are there - and a rant from one point of view is not a very good source of facts. I also hate convenient assumptions that make one side look aggrieved while any other side is at fault - that is just simply so seldom the case that it rings all kinds of alarm bells.

I wouldn't be happy about this, as a father. If you would've handled this differently, I don't know what else to tell ya. That is your own prerogative. The "giggle" thing for me isn't enough for me to say, "Hey, you know what pal? My son giggled after you knocked his tooth out, so... we're good, man. Don't worry about it." To me, this article wasn't about "how dangerous it is" at a Pacer game, rather than just a commentary on lack of conduct by some people.

No one says you're supposed to ignore it, just that there's a perspective other than "my kid lost a tooth, everyone else is at fault and you've Ruined His Life". Could it have been worse? Sure, but if you spend your life worrying about how things that happen with your kids Could Have Been Worse you'd never let them get out of bed in the morning. If the boy never forgets it it will be because his dad and mom remind him of it every time he talks about the Pacers. I've been 7, I've had kids who were 7, they're pretty resilient. He may remember he lost his tooth at a Pacer game (it's pretty memorable), but he's likely not going to associate it with a trauma. So much with young kids is not in the occurrence, it is in the reaction. It's why a lot of times when something happens they look at Mom or Dad before they start to react.

And this is NOT a "commentary on people's actions". She spends more time talking about how bad it is at games than she does about the guy who did it.

Ultimately, I agree with the idea that if it had been me, Mom would have taken him to get his mouth washed while I talked to the guy responsible. Like you said, that might range in vehemence, but I don't think ignoring the guy and then essentially calling him out in public is at all the right thing to do.

Look, it wasn't fun, it wasn't a happy ending for the evening, I wouldn't be happy as a dad, but I wouldn't start acting like just because I and my child had the experience it was somehow usual and that it would be a permanent problem. Giving the kid $20 for his tooth? Granted I don't know the going Tooth Fairy rate these days (our kids always got a 50-cent piece), but $20 seems like overreaction parenting to me.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

I think the question is: What percentage of kids are being sat on in any given Pacer game?

Then: Is that percentage greater than that at a Colts game?
Lock up your kids. Home school them and put a helmet on them. In fact we have to protect those helmets with dust covers. Strap leashes and GPS devices to them.

God forbid we have another World War, because we are raising some sissies and we are afraid of everything.

Second... again, you do have a wife or at least a female partner, right? You know how they get? My wife would react the exact same way. Their focus (rightly) is completely on the welfare of their child. You and me, as men, ya, we're likely to have a slightly wider scope in situations like that. I myself would take all of 5 seconds to verify that other than knocked out tooth, my boy was alright and my wife was taking care of him, and my attention would immediately go to the dude who fell on him, because he's got some 'splainin to do.

Yes, here we agree. I would not, however, tend to let my wife rant about what she THOUGHT happened because none of us bothered to get that explanation.

My wife is a writer. We have some of our biggest disagreements because she tends to rewrite experiences in her head to make a better story based on the circumstances under which she is relating it. I've gotten used to it over 25 years, but it does make me really wince when stories from a single perspective are taken as gospel.

BillS

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...

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Re: My sonís first Pacers game was ruined by carousing bozo

bacchanalias?

From what I've seen, Pacer fans as a whole are a pretty tame
and well behaved bunch for the most part compared to many
other fans, suds or no suds. BLF is very family friendly, and
most families have a wonderful time at Pacer games.

I also noticed in her article how she could have said something
such as: "other than this happening, we all had a wonderful time
watching the greatest team in basketball play and win", but did
not. The more I think about this, the more I start to suspect
that this lady might have already had a hair up her rear-end
before any of this even happened.

Grow up and cut your whining lady; unfortunate accidents can
happen anywhere at any time. Just be thankful this unfortunate
isolated incident wasn't any worse, and the boy will be fine.